A scoping review of research on school-based outdoor education in the Nordic countries

Figures & data

Table 1. Inclusion and exclusion criteria of articles. The term ‘outdoor education’ applies to any of the equivalents of the concept in both English and the Nordic languages.

Inclusion	Exclusion
The main focus is to investigate outdoor education in a school setting.	Articles that mention outdoor education without having outdoor education as the main focus or purpose (e.g. outdoor education as one of several answers in a survey).
Outdoor education conducted in a school context and led by school teachers.	Articles investigating extra-curricular activities, spare-time activities, informal outdoor activities; etc. Educational activity led by outdoor education experts, e.g. museum educators, nature park guides, etc., or educational researchers.
Outdoor education conducted in open-air spaces, such as natural and cultural landscapes and school gardens.	Outdoor education conducted in museums, science centers, zoos, botanical gardens, farms, and nature centers.
Situated in a Nordic country, e.g. the local area or region.	Participants from Nordic educational institutions travelling to foreign countries. Articles that are based on data from both non-Nordic and Nordic participants.
Studies situated in primary school, secondary school, or upper-secondary school in the Nordic countries.	Studies from preschool, i.e. children under 6 years, and articles combining data from preschool and primary school contexts. Studies of outdoor education in higher education, including teacher education.
Description of methods for collecting and analyzing empirical data.	Articles that present empirical examples without describing the research methods.
Peer-reviewed journal articles.	Book chapters, reports, conference papers, and grey literature.

Table 2. Studies included in the scoping review and summary of descriptive and content analysis.

Authors	Country	Subject matter context	School level and participants/data sources	Methodological Approach	Assigned category in content analysis
Aksland and Rundgren (2019)	Norway	Science	Primary and lower secondary 42 teachers	Qualitative (Questionnaire)	Teachers’ perspectives
Backman (2011a)	Sweden	Friluftsliv within P.E.	Primary and lower secondary 12 teachers	Qualitative (Interviews)	Teachers’ perspectives
Backman (2011b)	Sweden	Friluftsliv within P.E.	Primary and lower secondary Curriculum documents	Qualitative (text analysis)	Nature of outdoor education
Barfod et al. (2021)	Denmark	Not specified	Primary and lower secondary School management at 1,394 schools	Quantitative (survey)	Nature of outdoor education
Barfod and Stelter (2019)	Denmark	Multiple subjects (Mathematics and science)	Primary Ten teachers	Qualitative (Case study, interviews)	Nature of outdoor education
Barfod (2018)	Denmark	Not specified	Primary Ten teachers	Qualitative (Case study, interviews)	Teachers’ perspectives
Barfod and Daugbjerg (2018)	Denmark	Multiple subjects (Mathematics and science)	Primary Five teachers	Qualitative (Case study, observations and interviews)	Teachers’ perspectives
Barfod et al. (2016)	Denmark	Not specified	Primary and lower secondary School management at 336 schools	Quantitative (Survey)	Nature of outdoor education
Bentsen and Jensen (2012)	Denmark	Not specified	Primary and lower secondary 401 teachers and literature	Quantitative (Survey/literature review)	Nature of outdoor education
Bentsen et al. (2010)	Denmark	Multiple subjects	Primary and lower secondary School management at 1,073 schools	Quantitative (Survey)	Nature of outdoor education
Bølling et al. (2021)	Denmark	Multiple subjects	Primary 617 students	Quantitative (Accelerometer)	Well-being
Bølling et al. (2019a)	Denmark	Not specified	Primary and lower secondary 619 students (intervention group) 435 students (control group)	Quantitative (Survey)	Well-being
Bølling et al. (2019b)	Denmark	Not specified	Primary and lower secondary 511 students (intervention) 120 students (control group)	Quantitative (Questionnaire)	Well-being
Bølling et al. (2018)	Denmark	Not specified	Primary 911 students	Quantitative (Questionnaire)	Well-being
Dahl et al. (2019)	Norway	Friluftsliv within P.E.	Upper-secondary 41 teachers	Qualitative (Focus-group interviews)	Teachers’ perspectives
Dahl et al. (2017)	Norway	Friluftsliv within P.E.	Upper-secondary 41 teachers	Qualitative (Focus-group interviews)	Teachers’ perspectives
Dahl et al. (2016)	Norway	Friluftsliv within P.E.	Upper-secondary 155 teachers	Quantitative (Survey)	Teachers’ perspectives
Eidissen (2018)	Norway	Multiple subjects	Online learning activities for outdoor education	Qualitative document analysis	Digital resources
Fägerstam and Grothérus (2018)	Sweden	Multiple subject (Mathematics and German)	Lower secondary 14 students	Qualitative (Case-study)	Cognitive learning
Fägerstam and Samuelsson (2014)	Sweden	Mathematics	Lower secondary students (Five classes)	Quantitative (Questionnaire)	Cognitive learning
Fägerstam (2014)	Sweden	Multiple subjects	Lower secondary 12 teachers	Qualitative (Interviews)	Teachers’ perspectives
Fägerstam and Blom (2013)	Sweden	Multiple subjects (Biology and mathematics)	Lower secondary 88 students’ responses to questions, 21 students interviewed	Mixed methods (essay-type questions and interviews)	Cognitive learning
Fiskum and Jacobsen (2013)	Norway	Multiple subjects	Primary Nine students	Qualitative (interviews)	Nature of outdoor education
Gabrielsen and Korsager (2018)	Norway	Not specified	Primary and lower secondary Eight teachers	Qualitative (interviews)	Sustainability education
Gustafsson et al. (2011)	Sweden	Multiple subjects	Primary 315 students	Quantitative (Questionnaire)	Well-being
Hartmeyer, Stevenson, and Bentsen (2016)	Denmark	Science	Primary Four teachers	Qualitative (Observations, focus-group interviews)	Teachers’ perspectives
Hartmeyer and Mygind (2016)	Denmark	Multiple subjects (Danish and mathematics)	Primary Two teachers and five students	Qualitative (Case study, interviews)	Well-being
Henriksson (2018)	Finland	Science	Primary 15 teachers	Qualitative (Interviews)	Teachers’ perspectives
Iversen (2021)	Norway	Science	Upper secondary Three students Teaching materials	Qualitative (Video observation, text analysis and field notes)	Cognitive learning
Jørring et al. (2020)	Denmark	Multiple subjects (Danish and mathematics)	Primary 10 students	Qualitative (Case study, interviews and observations)	Well-being
Kangas et al. (2014)	Finland	Multiple subjects	Lower secondary Eight students	Qualitative (Video observation, photos and field-notes)	Cognitive learning
Kervinen et al. (2020)	Finland	Biology	Lower secondary Three teachers	Qualitative (Interviews)	Teachers’ perspectives
Leirhaug et al. (2020)	Norway	Friluftsliv withing P.E.	Upper secondary20 students interviewed 142 students’ responses to a questionnaire Participant observation by two researchers	Qualitative (Focus group interviews, observation and questionnaire)	Nature of outdoor education
Lyngstad and Sæther (2021)	Norway	Friluftsliv within P.E.	Upper secondary 37 students	Qualitative (questionnaire)	Nature of outdoor education
Manni et al. (2013)	Sweden	Science	Primary 209 students	Quantitative (Questionnaire)	Sustainability education
Mikaels (2018)	Sweden	Friluftsliv within P.E.	Lower secondary Eight teachers	Qualitative (Interviews, field notes)	Nature of outdoor education
Mygind (2010)	Denmark	Multiple subjects	Primary 19 students	Quantitative (Questionnaire)	Well-being
Mygind (2007)	Denmark	Multiple subjects	Primary 19 students	Quantitative (Physical activity monitoring)	Well-being
Mygind et al. (2019a)	Denmark	Science	Primary 20 teachers	Qualitative (Interview)	Teachers’ perspectives
Otte et al. (2019a)	Denmark	Danish	Primary 911 students	Quantitative (Questionnaire)	Cognitive learning
Otte et al. (2019b)	Denmark	Mathematics	Primary 911 students	Quantitative (Questionnaire)	Cognitive learning
Remmen and Frøyland (2015a)	Norway	Geoscience	Upper secondary Three teachers and 39 students	Qualitative (Video observation, interviews)	Teaching and learning across classroom and outdoors
Remmen and Frøyland (2015b)	Norway	Geoscience	Upper secondary Three teachers and 18 students	Qualitative (Video observation)	Teaching and learning across classroom and outdoors
Remmen and Frøyland (2014)	Norway	Geoscience	Upper secondary Two teachers and their students	Qualitative (Video observations)	Teaching and learning across classroom and outdoors
Remmen and Frøyland (2013)	Norway	Geoscience	Upper secondary One teacher and 17 students	Qualitative (Video observations)	Cognitive learning
Rikala (2015)	Finland	Science	Primary One teacher and 19 students	Qualitative (Questionnaire)	Digital resources
Romar et al. (2019)	Finland	Multiple subjects	Primary Two teachers and 21 students	Mixed methods (Accelerometers and field notes)	Well-being
Rundgren et al. (2015)	Sweden	Science	Upper secondary 65 students	Mixed methods (Questionnaire)	Cognitive learning
Schneller et al. (2017)	Denmark	Not specified	Primary 317 students	Quantitative (Accelerometers)	Wellbeing
Uitto, Juuti, Lavonen, and Meisalo (2006)	Finland	Science	Lower secondary 3,626 students	Quantitative (Survey)	Nature of outdoor education
Wilhelmsson et al. (2012)	Sweden	Science	Primary Four teachers	Qualitative (Interviews)	Nature of outdoor education
Winje and Løndal (2021)	Norway	Not specified	PrimaryFive teachers	Qualitative (observations and interviews)	Teachers’ perspectives
SUM OF STUDIES (N = 52)	Denmark (20), Norway (15), Sweden (11), Finland (6)	Multiple school subjects (16) Science (10) Friluftsliv (8) Geoscience (4) Mathematics (2)Danish language (1) Biology (1)Not specified (10)	Primary (22) Primary and lower secondary (10) Upper-secondary (11) Lower-secondary (8) Not specified (1) Students (21) Teachers (17)Teachers and students (7) Teachers and literature (1) School management (3) Texts (2) Students and teaching materials (1)	Qualitative (31) Quantitative (18) Mixed methods (3)	Teachers’ perspectives (13) Nature of outdoor education (12) Well-being (11) Cognitive learning (9) Teaching and learning processes (3) Digital resources (2) Sustainability education outdoors (2)

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